Birdwatch: Shivering call of wood warbler is heard again

The strange shivering call of the male wood warbler, compared by some to the sound made by a spinning coin on a marble slab, is being heard again in Yorkshire woodlands.

Up to six have been reported in Strid Wood, Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire compared with only one last year – I saw three there this week – while at least one is back at Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge.

The song is delivered in two phases, first a soft but penetrating whistle, then a series of notes that gradually quicken and intensify into a loud spluttering cascade of sound.

The song is repeated every few minutes as the male moves among the tree canopy and can be heard from dawn until dusk.

The wood warbler is the largest of our three “leaf warblers”, the others being the chiffchaff and willow warbler, and also the rarest.

It is also the most brightly coloured, green above with a yellow throat and pure white underparts which blend in with the bright green beech and oak leaves from where it delivers its song.

This preference for tall beech and oak trees with few lower branches or undergrowth beneath them means that the wood warbler has to nest on the ground, building a domed nest of grass in a hollow.

The increase in numbers at Strid Woods this year is encouraging, given that there is great concern over the decline of the wood warbler nationally.

Over the past 20 years they have disappeared from many areas such as East Anglia where they once returned regularly each spring.

About a third of the British population is found in Wales and here the RSPB is carrying out a survey which began in 2009 and will continue until at least next year to study the wood warbler’s feeding habits, breeding success etc and see if more can be done to help them.

Wood warblers are on their way back to Africa by mid September and are unusual in that they fly south west to northern Italy where they feed and put on weight for several weeks before they continue south, possibly across the central Sahara to as yet undiscovered wintering grounds further south.

Birdwatchers followed the progress of a massive white-tailed eagle along the Yorkshire coast on Sunday as the juvenile bird was seen flying south from Hornsea Mere, down to Aldbrough and then across the Humber to Lincolnshire from Sammy’s Point.

A first summer golden oriole was singing at Sammy’s Point and another was heard at Grimston while a bee eater was seen at Spurn and Kilnsea.

Three red-rumped swallows were seen at Spurn while a tawny pipit was near Easington Lagoon where it was caught and ringed, a water pipit was also present there.

Quail were seen at several coastal sites with two flushed from a field at Flamborough, two heard and seen at Clubley’s Field, Spurn and one heard at Buckton. Their distinctive song should be listened out for now from among crops.

A corncrake flew in off the sea and into a dense stand of buckthorns at the Warren, Spurn, the first spring record there since 1992.

Two Temminck’s stints were seen on Port Clarence Pools on Teeside while others were at Bewholme Hall pond East Yorkshire and at Boston Lake, Hatfield Moors, South Yorkshire.

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